Superhydrophobic Aluminum Surfaces Modified with Hierarchically Structured Oleates-Intercalated LDH Arrays for Anticorrosion: Structure, Anticorrosion Enhancement, and Mechanism

The potential applications of superhydrophobic materials in marine environments, particularly in terms of corrosion resistance and antibiofouling, have captured the intense interest of researchers and engineers. Herein, superhydrophobic aluminum surfaces modified with hierarchical structured oleate anions intercalated layered double hydroxide arrays (MgAl-OA^--LDHs@AS) were fabricated by a one-step hydrothermal method, and detailed structural manipulation was carried out. Comprehensive structural characterizations were conducted, including analyses of morphology, composition, roughness, and wettability. The obtained superhydrophobic surfaces were found to be uniform, compact, and stable. By modulating the surface roughness, the superhydrophobicity was significantly improved, achieving a water contact angle of 154.0° and a roll-off angle of 4.2°. The anticorrosion effect was investigated by monitoring changes in electrochemical potentiodynamic polarization and impedance spectroscopy measurements. MgAl-OA^--LDHs@AS demonstrated corrosion resistance with a relatively low corrosion current density (I_corr) of 2.0 × 10^-10 A·cm^-2. MgAl-OA^--LDHs@AS effectively resisted electrochemical corrosion and provided excellent long-term corrosion protection for at least 30 days. The anticorrosion mechanism was proposed, revealing the excellent performance of the anticorrosion membrane.